Written for The Quidditch League Competition Round 10 - Seasons Greetings - write about a slice of life on a summers day or horror-themed on a winters night.
Team - Kenmare Kestrels
Position - Captain
Authors Notes - This is Tom Riddle Jr/Minerva McGonagall in a modernday!AU. Please enjoy. Many thanks to my teammate, Celinarose, for checking this over for grammar/other. I also want to give a super shout-out to my buddy, desertredwolf, she helped me with plot, pacing, horror!questions, and wording - and basically she was the absolute best with helping me through the drafts of this. (go check out her writing btw. her stories are womderful)
'I know it was you.'
Minerva McGonagall stared at the bright screen of her cellphone. Her fork had frozen on its path to her lips, before she remembered her surroundings and plopped it back down on her salad. Her hands were shaking. She fidgeted with a napkin while looking at the next text that had just come in.
'Who are you?'
Man, she could barely type.
Another beep and a second message came through. It startled her so much that she almost knocked her water glass over. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a waiter glance in her direction, having heard the noise. Gritting her teeth, she focused on turning her sound all the way off.
'What did Tom ever see in you?'
Her heart stopped.
No, no, no...
There was a pounding in her head. Her world was spinning.
Calm down, Minerva, she told herself sternly. Think about this. Think about this.
She stared at the unknown phone number texting her. The numbers were common shapes that just seemed to float in front of her — mocking her. She had never seen them before in her life.
She was a hacker. Computer hacker. Telephones were little tiny computers, but they weren't the same. Minerva grabbed a few bills from her wallet and left it on the table. She needed to get out. People would start staring at her, if they hadn't already. People would call the police on her — she laughed to herself — if they hadn't already.
Outside against the wall, she breathed.
She didn't know how to do this.
Calmness seeped into her frantic thoughts.
What would Tom do?
Tom...
She bit her lip and set off to her apartment.
...
By the time she had arrived, Minerva felt like she had aged from a twenty-year old woman to ninety-year old widow. It took more than few minutes to reach the second floor and more than the normal few seconds it always took to open her lock. But when she had finally entered, Minerva headed straight for the stack of boxes in the corner.
With urgency, she tore through the first box. Shoes, suit, computer cable, and... aha. Minerva grabbed the slick smartphone. For a moment, she hesitated. But doubt quickly turned into resolve; she could almost hear Tom's voice in her ear:
Whatever it takes, Minerva.
She held down the power button; nothing happened. The battery was probably dead by now. Minerva hunted the floor for a spare charger cord and plugged it in. There was a small tech side of her brain that told her to take the SIM card out. So easily traceable, and she didn't want to get Tom in trouble...
But no. All the information she needed was on that card.
Minerva ran her hand through her dark hair. She wanted to talk to Tom. So bad.
The screen flashed and she set to work. Searching through all of the contacts. The people who would even have a clue about what she had done were people that would be connected to Tom. Most of them would obviously keep their mouth shut since they still benefited from it too, but there was always that one idiot.
She stopped. The numbers matched. They matched.
To a ... Bellatrix Black.
Minerva cursed.
She had to talk to Tom.
She stood alone in the abyss of snow and freezing winds. The moon had risen above the crooked curve of the weeping willow that she stood below. Minerva shivered, but not from nerves. The wolves that haunted the nearby forest could start to howl and it still wouldn't startle her. She was calm. For now.
It's cold.
Tom will be here shortly.
Her heart skipped a beat at the thought.
Her frozen fingers trailed over the silver watch that her ex-boyfriend had bought her two years ago. It had been graduation present from him when they had finally left their high school. Minerva still wore it every day and remembered the words engraved on the back.
Soft kiss upon her hand.
"Lovely, Minerva. Care to dance?"
"Who speaks like that anymore?" She laughs.
"Who has such beauty like yourself anymore?" he replies smoothly.
How can she not be hooked with a line like that?
Till our time runs out.
It had been heart-stopping romantic. Tom wasn't always like that, but it wasn't uncommon. She could still see the warmth in his eyes as he had leant down to kiss her on prom night, and how she had wished to never lose him.
But Tom … he had changed.
Minerva shivered again. She wasn't sure if it was from the sharp winds or the memories that were starting to seep in. Scowling, she leant against the weeping willow to wait.
The truth?
Tom was cruel.
Cruel, cruel.
"Minerva..."
"Yeah?"
"You're majoring in computer science, right?"
"Mhmm."
"I need you to do something for me."
He pulls her close to him. Warm, forgetful, and dangerous. The recklessness in her starts to roar.
"Y-Yeah?"
His breath tickles her ear.
"Do you know to hack a computer?"
"Minerva."
It was him.
Soft and alluring. The voice that could wake her from any nightmare and delve her into lost dreams of fairy-tales and Scottish castles.
Her voice stopped in her throat. He hadn't changed either. Still with the wind-swept hair and handsome profile, staring at her curiously.
"Tom..." Minerva answered. Her Scottish accent slipped out despite her misgivings. She hoped desperately that the breathlessness in her voice wasn't too obvious.
Here she was. Failed computer science major in ripped jeans, shivering like mad in front of a high-class executive. It was almost crazy to think that two years ago, they had been dressed in the exact same uniform with the same ambitious goals for the future.
Only hers had been more tainted with reckless love than his. Reckless love for him. Bitterness twisted in her at the reminder.
Tom stepped forward; Minerva stepped back.
He sighed and unwrapped a black scarf from around his neck. He held it out to her, but she waved a disgruntled hand. "Oh, put it away."
She saw a flash of annoyance cross his face, and she smiled. Tom hated it when people didn't fall for him and his class act. That's all he was. Such a pretty face and class act. But she wouldn't dance on that stage any more — she couldn't stand it.
"You ruined me, Tom." This time, she didn't bother to hide the shake in her voice.
He looked unimpressed. "Bravo. It took you six months to say that to my face. We could've done this in my office."
Oh, but Tom. You have no idea how long it took me to hate you, she thought miserably.
"After taking my future, I thought you would at least be gracious enough to grant me some time in the snow."
"I didn't take your future." Tom gave her a look that most mothers would give to their children who run through the kitchen with mud on their shoes. "I gave you a choice."
"You told me to ha-"
"I asked-"
"You left me!"
"You weren't careful." He hissed at her.
There. There was the man he truly was.
She took a step back.
"If you were better, you wouldn't have been caught and thrown out from the university." For one instant, his carefully crafted façade slipped and something … desperate flickered across his features. The moment passed, but that breakthrough found Minerva feeling hard-pressed to turn away.
"You left me because I wasn't better?" It sounded empty to her own ears.
He frowned at her. "What do you think?"
She sighed. "This... this isn't what I came to talk about."
"Oh?"
"Bellatrix knows," she said, her voice sounding distant to her own ears. "She knows what I did for you. The hacking job."
Tom scowled. "What a nuisance."
"My thoughts exactly." Minerva shivered, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. "I don't know what to do." Her voice turned pleading, "Tom, you promised. You said no one would find out."
The silence that followed her response was eventually broken with his terse response.
"Get rid of her."
She stared in shock.
"What?"
"You heard me." His dark eyes met hers. It was only a small distance away, but she wanted him closer.
Tom stepped forward and Minerva couldn't find the strength to step back anymore. He wrapped the scarf around her neck firmly, and she breathed in the scent that she had found comfort in months ago.
He rested his forehead against hers. "Minerva. Do it. You know it's the only way she'll leave you alone. Leave us alone."
His hand trailed over her arm and gestured to her bag on the ground. His voice coaxed her.
"I know you can do it, Minerva."
Minerva tried to imagine her future. Years before, it would've been simple. Stay with Tom, find a job, and maybe settle down. They had never talked about that far ahead, though. It made her wonder if maybe she had been the only one planning the relationship back then.
But now, what would happen?
Tom had spoken about Bellatrix more than once. Obsessed, clever, jealous. Minerva knew that the woman would have a strong urge to take her down and if she did ... they would take her away. Away from her future.
Away from Tom.
She brought out her phone and started typing. Like a puppet doll being controlled on strings.
'I want to meet you.'
'Agreed. I would like to see your face when they drag you off in chains.'
She froze. This wasn't right. But...
'Meet me at Godric Hollows park. By the weeping willow tree near the fence —'
No. She needed something more. Something more taunting.
' — Bellatrix.'
'Alright.'
His arms are wrapped around her. She could never hate him when he held her like this. His breath was warm and steady on her cheek.
"Let's not fight anymore."
"Why?"
Minerva wanted to cry.
"Because," he answered, slow and firmly, "you always remember us fighting."
She wrapped her arms around him, and he felt real and solid to her touch. Her hate dissolved and Minerva remembered why she loved him. There are many fragments to Tom Riddle she just couldn't explain.
But they were as beautiful as the falling snow around them.
...
Minerva waited.
Then the crunching of snow alerted her to the other woman's presence. She had never formally met any of Tom's fellow workers — much less secretaries — and she had always assumed they would be like that nasty Pettigrew fellow that used to work for him. Short, nasally, and a nasty personality. But... this girl was different. She was stunning. Professional looking from her black top to her dark-heeled boots. Inwardly, Minerva wondered if Tom had broken up with her in public just so he could get with his secretary.
She shook her head. No, no, no.
The woman smiled at her with nasty gleam in her eyes. "So you are the culprit." She trailed a critical look from the top to bottom. "Pathetic."
"Look..." Minerva tried. Oh, she would try. "Tom was the one who told me-"
Bellatrix cackled loudly. "Yeah. Right. Of course, he did. That's why you destroyed him."
"I didn't destro-" Minerva shook her head. She didn't destroy him.
Bellatrix stepped forward with a dark glare. "You ruined him."
Like hell I did!
Bellatrix continued without waiting for a reply. "I've already called the police. They will be here any minute." She gave Minerva a bored look. "You know, for a computer hacker, you really suck at hiding evidence."
"You ruined me, Tom!"
"You weren't careful!"
"Please... stop this madness. I love you. Isn't that enough for you to stop?"
"All it means is that I can find someone better."
She is so, so, so mad. The cold wind is biting against her skin. Tom isn't listening. He never listens to her. Why does she hate him so much? Her hand finds itself in her bag and it brushes against cool, freezing metal.
Her heart freezes.
Bellatrix bared her teeth in a grin. "That's why I was better for him."
Bang
It took only a few seconds to lift the gun and fire. It felt like eternity to feel the results. The results spreading out on the white ground. Bellatrix was still. Minerva felt like she was going to be sick.
She dropped the gun and backed away. Minerva could hear the sirens coming closer, closer, and closer.
She bumped into something behind her. Warm, protective, and mesmerizing. Tom...
"Tom...?"
He wrapped his arm around her but didn't respond.
Minerva pulled away from him and rested her palm against his cheek, like she had done many times when they had been together.
But something was wrong.
"Why do you always ruin me?"
Tom smiled, knowingly and just the same as when he kissed her hand at prom night.
"You did this to yourself. After all -" He leant down and whispered to her. The sirens and wind seemed to stop at that moment. " - you are the one who killed me."
Time stops and she is screaming. No, no, no!
Tom lifted her right hand and pointed the gun against his heart.
"Finish the memory, darling."
"Why do you ruin me?" she asked desperately.
Tom smiled at her.
His voice is soft, controlling and mocking. It makes her mad.
"Till our time runs o -"
Bang